Spiritual sketch of Austria

Today we had the privilege to take a trip to Linz, Austria. It was roughly 144 Kilometers (90 miles) away from our base and our team traveled there by van in a heavy snowstorm. We made it safe and sound but it was our first driving experience out on our own. In Linz, we met up with the team leader for OM Austria (Operation Mobilization) and he presented to us some religious history of Austria and how that has played out in the current spiritual expressions of modern day Austria. I thought I would share a few facts about Christianity here to give you a depiction of missions in this part of the world. But keep in mind that in Austria, Christianity means something very different than what most of us would presume...

Austria Today
-Austria has about 8.2 million people and is smaller than Tennesee.
-71% of people are Roman Catholics (20 years ago it was over 90%)
-2nd largest religion: Islam with about 350,00 people
-Major growth in cults and esoteric groups
-Nearly 50% of all marriages divorced
-"World Champions" in alcholism and suicide
-4th richest country in Euroupe, 7th or 8th in the world

Evangelical Churches in Austria
-Today there are around 200 evangelical churches
-0.3%-0.4% of the population are evangelical, roughly 30,000 (twice as many as 20 years ago)
-Average church has around 30 members
-A rare commodity: Austrians in full-time Christian service
-In some rural areas evangelicals are still seen as a cult

Missionary work has been so difficult within Austria that that Austria has been coined the 'Grave of the Missionaries'.

I ask for your continual prayers for the people of Austria and for our team as we represent Jesus in our lives here.